Running To Time - Class 91 High Speed Train
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- With the Class 91 Locomotives, operated by LNER, due to be withdrawn and replaced by new Azuma trains during 2019, this 1988 Channel 4 film follows the design and introduction of the Class.
Its amazing how Britain can lead the world in developing technologies and then fall flat implementing it.
There have been a number of examples
We developed the jet airliner the comet in the 1950s, but some aircrashes saw Britain lose the initiative and Boeing took up the cudgels and the rest is history
We do have the potential to implement well. It's often politics or "middle England" that gets in the way
Agreed. We end up selling or giving away the ideas.
@@Keithbarber We developed the first domestic nuclear fission reactor power plant as well (Calder Hall) in the 1950s. Britain's domestic nuclear industry was privatised in the 1980s and there was little interest amongst the newly privatised companies to build new reactors to take care of Britain's future energy needs (the discovery of North Sea fossil fuels and lack of political will following Chernobyl played their parts). Now, the French and Chinese lead fission reactor construction - they're the ones building our newest reactors, e.g. Sizewell C!
@@citizenmilitia1 replace "middle England" with "middle America", and it's the exact same problem over here.
Remember when British TV channels (including Channel 4, which broadcast this one) were full of fascinating documentaries like this, which respect the intelligence of the viewer and have no dumbing down? QED, Horizon, Equinox, Cutting Edge. All documentary strands gone or dumbed down today.
Even BBC Four is now just a repeats channel.
Truth.
And the Beeb expect us to pay for Strictly, biased news, poor quality reporting, homes under the hammer and all sorts of other rubbish.
Totally agree. They cannot compete with the never-ending stream of streaming services and web shows with massive multinational backers, in an age where the under 30s do not use traditional media for their default news, current affairs, debate or entertainment as most above age 35 years are used to doing there fore advertising revenues are not forthcoming . Whatever ITV and commercial mainstream channels do ....the BBC are forced to do next by the government.
Patrick Uden and Paul Fabricius, the producers, were excellent film-makers conveying technical subjects clearly with well-edited interviews - as shown in this great film shown first on Channel 4 in 1988.
I love this, thanks for posting it. The subject matter interests me but more than that, I love the style of documentary making. If this was made now there would a ridiculous soundtrack implying drama that wasn't there, there would be a 'star' presenter who would be the focus of the camera rather than what was going on and there would be endless tiresome scenes of them in awe of what was going on. A bogey being fitting to the carriage!!!! Wow!!! It's unbelievable!!!!!!
Thanks for your comment. Like you I much prefer this "older" style of documentary.
What a superb insight in the building of the Class 91. Such a shame that all their hard work & testing for 140mph running never came to fruition, due to the poor infrastructure and planning. So much money must have been wasted through the development of the ECML modernisation of signalling etc, and all these years later we haven’t mastered anything over 125mph for longer distances than 20 miles. Some would say that’s a failure.
A fascinating time capsule of a documentary, and surprisingly heavy on technical detail for something intended for the general public. The 225s, like the 125s, were/are very nice trains, and happily, some still in service in 2023! Though how much longer that lasts, who knows... I will be sad when they are gone. BR, for all its faults, did gift future generations with some really hard working, comfortable and iconic trains, as the HST and IC225 examplify.
British Rail were so much better than the shysters we have now!
to think that now 35 years or so later they are still working Kings Cross to York and Leeds thow now only 10 out of 31 it will be a grate loss to see them go .
The Class 91 sets still give the most comfortable ride on the BR Network in my opinion. As you say, it will be sad to see them go.
Thay are the most comfortable ride they beat the 800's and most stock for that mater . @@davidvines8141
Thanks for sharing this, as I like engineering problems.
They did a fantastic job, I love those trains.
Narrator 1988: "Class 43 Intercity 125s will be replaced"
Cross Country, Scott Rail, GWR all in 2023: "Nah, we're good"
Well that's because for most of the intervening period we've had governments that see the country's place as being in the third world not the developed world. There should have been a program of continuous electrification but we are faced with the ridiculous situation where the Great Western Mainline didn't even reach the main station of the target city. Just embarrassing.
@@andrewwrench1959 And we continue to see governments like this.
@@andrewwrench1959 I'd say it's more governments that want us to be a first world country, with first world infrastructure, but they don't want to pay for it. If an investment in infrastructure doesn't pay off within their term of government they're not interested.
HS2 maybe the exception, but it's been so compromised by endless modifications and cuts to the route that it has also suffered from the dead hand of governments which want the benefits of first-world (dare one say Continental?) infrastructure without wanting to pay for it.
CROSS C is going 15th OCTOBER 2023 it’s contract GONE HST are being RETIRED BY GWR ( castle sets ) end of 2023 and Scot rail replacing theirs 2024 !!!!
Shame the Government cut the funding for 140 mph signaling so they never exceeded 125 mph in service. The 800 class are actually slower than these and the HST.
I rode on a few class 91's this week and checked the speed using a GPS app, we reached 127mph on many occasions whereas the Azuma would only reach 124mph max when I rode them on the same track.
I was on an East midlands rover ticket
That's interesting, I have timed the Azuma's with GPS but never the Class 91's. I think the Azuma is probably faster accelerating but I still prefer to travel on the 91's when possible for a more comfortable journey.
In the early 90s i timed a journey with 91021 with an average speed of 138mph over 76.25 miles. I was never good at maths nor still have my timings, but it covered 76.25 miles in 38 minutes. I’ll let someone else do the maths, but it was fast and way before black boxes, and when drivers were going home.
The Azuma has a speed limiter fitted set at 200kph, which is approx. 124mph.
@@leeosborne3793 brilliant, that is what i was wondering as on part 2 (yet to be edited) I noticed that Azumas were only doing 124mph whereas the Electra's were maxing out at 127mph
Todays high speed trains have bogies split between to cars thus making the train much more sturdy. Also tracks are completly welded into very long sections except for expansion joints thus making the ride more quiet and smooth.
The most fascinating part of this film are the people - all men, almost all in suits and most with a rather posh voice. How different the culture was then.
I maintained trains all over londin for many years including tube stock
My first ever flight was on the beautiful boeing 757.
All this development for a 140mph train that still cannot flex its muscles properly on an infrastructure that can only support 125mph running. Must of been very frustrating for all the engineers involved.
I saw the first Class 91 arrive at Bounds Green depot and it derailed.
Not a great start then, but they have given great service over the years.
9:42 "The tilting train was dead."
Thank you, Virgin, for believing.
BR sold the tech to italy, italy made the pendos
1988... roughly the last time any train the UK actually ran on time.
1898
I love at 16.33 mins in he says that the bogie Design was innovative, but yet they have been using Engines and driveshaft mounted beneath the body of the coach to power wheel sets since the very first diese Passenger trains Such as the 101 DMU.
Not mounted on the bogie though! The point was to minimise unsprung mass whilst permitting every axle in the locomotive to be powered. Previously the only way to do this was to mount the motor directly on the axle, thereby being unsprung and punishing the track.
Interestingly, nobody in the entire film mentioned safety
I never understand why people are in such a hurry. It seems to me everyone wants to be somewhere yesterday, why, what are they frightened of missing? Do they want get into their grave quicker and sooner? Seems that way to me.
I wanted to read all of your comment, but it is too long and I just don't have the time.😂
@@mattylamb658 So you're a hurry person 🤪
@@peterbattey8263 Ha ha, indeed!
Lets make something cutting edge, new and engineeringly exciting......nah we cant do it. What type of managing is that?
Fast forward to the end of the lives of these locomotives and we replace trains with assembly kits from Japan and our population with people from overseas, many unskilled and of unknown origin. Anyone see a pattern here? Clue, only a few people are getting richer.
4:10 I'm not sure about that.
british rail operators now import tilting trains, decades after they binned their own. Why is that nation SO good at binning all its technological advantages?
I'm just curious.... it sounds like British Rail was very much like Amtrak. Why was it that BR was able to run passenger services efficiently and even introduce High Speed Rail all over Great Britain ALONG with freight and mail but Amtrak CAN'T get its act together on the Northeast Corridor? I know that Amtrak runs passenger trains as a utility so the Privatized Railroads don't have to and can focus on what makes money... FREIGHT. That means they have to make way for the Freight Trains, but Amtrak OWNS the Northeast Corridor tracks. Why does the US still lag behind the UK?
Because of the car industry, the oil industry, the airways industry are banding together to keep the passenger railways down.
I've travelled frim paris to Berlin a few times on the German ICE and when the train is due in Berlin at 1pm it arrives at 1 pm. If i take a train from london to Glasgow it never arrives in time.
Hah you must be joking. I live in Germany and the reliability of trains is really not good. They are seldom on time and a bit of a national laughing stock. Meeting connections is a risky business.
Don't worry about arriving on time, you're lucky if it turns up at all.
The government prefers to invest money in roads than railways.
The government does invest in the railway, it has wasted getting on for £100 billion pounds on HS2!
@@davidvines8141That wasn't money spent on HS2. That was money given to their mates.
@@mattevans4377 As I said, wasted.
@@davidvines8141 It still isn't really spending money on railways though. If they actually were interested in investing in rail, HS2 would be built by now, and in full.
@@mattevans4377Exactly! The French had their high speed rail link to the channel tunnel built before the tunnel opened. It took us 14 years.
We spent 10 years dithering over HS2 in never ending cycles of feasability studies and impact assessments where any other European country would have had the darned thing up and running by now.
Then you can tell it was put together by committee. It doesn't go where it needs to go (The Actual North) and doesn't connect to HS1 or the continent. That and nobody seems to have considered it's freight potential either - High speed parcels? High speed containers straight from the Southern Ports to the North.
Classically British
Iv lived in uk for 33 years and i have to say things have improved except for the delays and cancellations due to greedy staff. Trains are newer and much improved. Billions have been spent on rolling stock and tracks. Prices ain't too bad either. I travelled from hull to leeds last week for £10. 1 hour trip.
I don’t know what you’re smoking but privatisation has been a disaster for rail fares
The railway industry is blighted with too much top brass and a shrinking workforce.
Greedy workforce?
No, a workforce that wants to earn a good salary.
What coaches are those shown at 17:57? Thanks in advance!
The coaches were built by LMS at Wolverton works and were streamlined to be hauled by the newly built streamlined Coronation Scot class locomotives in 1937. In this video It looks like they may be prototypes as when they were in service they had the same livery as the striped loco.
@@davidvines8141 Thanks! It seems that the streamlined version was only used for the exhibition purposes. I've found something here: publictransportexperience.blogspot.com/2019/08/blue-or-red-theres-more-to-be-said-2.html
Screw passenger comfort. I prefer railway aesthetics than efficiency. So now these days, thanks to money hording governments, everything on the railways breaks down and looks like crap, sacrifices aesthetics just to get idiots from A to B quicker.
Should be investing the east and west coast lines rather than building the monstrosity that is HS2